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¶ … Caesar
After the death of Julius Caesar, Rome and its Republic were in chaos, but out of this chaos emerged an unlikely candidate for succession, a young nephew of Caesar named Octavian. Julius Caesar had already set the groundwork for a single man to head the Roman government, but it would be his nephew, Octavian who would erect the framework for a single ruler. Through careful manipulation of the existing legal system, Octavian was able to accumulate unprecedented powers and ushered in the Imperial Age of Rome, but his clever refusal to exactly define the limits of his power enabled him to appear to be an office-holder with limited powers, but in reality exercise seemingly unlimited authority over the state.
Octavian came from a family of the lower nobility, however, his father had taken for his second wife Atia, who's mother was a niece of Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar had assume the role of dictator for life...
There are no accounts of what Caesar had in mind for Octavian, but when Caesar was murdered by Senatorial enemies, it was announced that his nephew Octavian would be his heir and inherit three quarters of Caesar's wealth and property. (Eck and Takacs 7)
"After fourteen years of political wrestling, wars devious planning and struggle for mere survival, Octavian was now alone and supreme." (Southern 100) And while Octavian had for all practical purposes assumed absolute power, he was clever enough to never create an absolute definition to what his powers were. He avoided the use of extraordinary titles and claimed "to be merely the first man [Princeps] in the state with no powers greater than any of his colleagues." (Southern 104) "Princeps" being a benign and legal title meaning simply "first man." (Everitt 209)…
Works Cited
Eck Werner, and Sarolta Takacs. The Age of Augustus. Malden, MA: C.H. Beck, 2003.
Print.
Everitt, Anthony. Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor. New York: Random
House, 2006. Print.
Julius Caesar has remained one of the most poignant stories about a power struggle in the English language. It is precisely because personality cults have consistently eroded institutions of public office that this play will always remain relevant. The play illustrates not only that a popular yet unorthodox leader may sweep away democratic and free institutions, but that killing such a leader might result in even more turmoil. This was
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